I’m happy to announce the new free Arabic teaching module co-created by myself and Laila Familiar on Khallina.org available here. In this module, we investigate transnational social issues in the Arab World through literature and graphic art. These issues include: refugees and refugee camps, fleeing violence, immigration, cultural challenges for immigrants, studying abroad, and making choices about where and how to live one’s life. IN THIS MODULE, LEARNERS WILL:
Meet an artist who addresses social issues through comix
I’m just wrapping up a late summer group read of:
The Green Bicycle By Haifaa Al Mansour This is a light, fun read if you enjoy YA literature and you have any interest in what it would be like to grow up in Saudi Arabia. The text flows easily, and the main character is a misfit, intelligent and critical of what goes on around her. In that sense, it reminds me of books like Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow (From the perspective of an Algerian-French girl, translated from French – By the way, this book is still on my to-read list – Anyone want to read it with me?
This article translated from Moroccan press by Melanie Magidow
(Hespress April 28, 2018, Wail Bourchachene)
Abdelfattah Kilito, Moroccan writer and literary critic, deplored that his Masters students in the last several years before his retirement “really read nothing.” In an interactive lecture at Ibn Tufail University in Kénitra, he stressed that the students were not familiar with important literary references and prominent writers.
Regarding the titles of his books, Kilito said they were not determined by commercial motives.
Today I learned of Emily Nasrallah’s passing. As a student at NYU, I used to shop at the Dahesh Heritage bookshop (since closed, sadly). The kind and helpful shopkeeper, Mike Masri, is the one who first mentioned her to me, placing her book Fi l-bal / In Mind, in my outstretched hands. This book of essays about her first starts in the world of journalism endeared her to me instantly.
المقتبس التالي من صفحة ٣٤٦ من الباب المفتوح مصدر الصورة
This post celebrates and complements our first group read of 2018 in the Middle East North Africa Lit group on Goodreads.com: الباب المفتوح / The Open Door by Latifa al-Zayyat! This is one of the most enjoyable feminist classics in all of Arabic literature, as far as I’m concerned. As a historical novel, it transports us to a time when Cairo was part of the British empire, and Egyptians were ready for a change!
This post celebrates and complements our first group read of 2018 in the Middle East North Africa Lit group on Goodreads.com: الباب المفتوح / The Open Door by Latifa al-Zayyat! This is one of the most enjoyable feminist classics in all of Arabic literature, as far as I’m concerned. As a historical novel, it transports us to a time when Cairo was part of the British empire, and Egyptians were ready for a change!
Mortal Designs has been nominated for the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation! More details here. See review of the book here.
“…couldn’t put the book down. I felt richly immersed in a culture and atmosphere I barely know. The characters are so alive! I love how you left some words untranslated and unexplained, preserving the foreignness of the text and leaving it to [the] reader to imagine the meaning.
A poem for spring–for thawing out, for growth, for warmth, for vacation. My husband and I recently learned that we are expecting a son in the fall. Facing the prospect of motherhood is complex for me: I don’t picture myself as a mother yet. Aren’t parents all grown up? This poem does a nice job, I think, of reminding all of us of our inner children, our childlike nature, perhaps our best selves…
I have a new translated short story online at K1N here !
The author, Somaya Ramadan, and I discussed its publication ages ago. It’s nice to have it see the light of day at last. This story comes from a fun volume titled Qalat al-Rawiya / قالت الراوية / What She Said, which consists of stories written by women in Cairo with the purpose of retelling tradition, reimagining canonized stories and telling new stories with traditional flavors and new ideas.
